The art of printing has changed the world probably more than any other trade. It is so common in everyday life that we take it for granted. Yet, without the printed objects that surround you, life would be very, very different.
We will start our journey with the scribes and monks hand copying the precious Holy Scriptures in their monasteries and towers. Then progress to the invention of movable type and its impact on both the scribes work, as well as the whole world. Next we get into more mechanized and bigger production with machinery. Then, the next huge development in printing was the incredible type-setting machines of the 19th century. Like the scribes being replaced by the printing press, the compositors (typesetters) were afraid what these new machines would do to their line of work. As it ended up, these marvelous machines made even more compositors necessary. But, instead of standing in front of a typecase laboriously all day, their labor became much easier as their workload expanded.
Then came the invention of lithography which transformed into photo offset lithography or more commonly called, offset printing. This process tremendously increased the production of printed materials. Along with this change in the printing trade came even newer ways of setting type and with complete page production too. Later, when these machines became digital, it became possible to store the information for later. That feature seems strange today with our computers having that ability from day one. But this was very revolutionary at the time.
Finally we look at todays modern technology as well as what is coming in the near future. Even though our offices go more paperless everyday, the printed word will always be with us somehow. There is nothing like holding physical paper in your hands and having a hard copy of an important document.
We will start our journey with the scribes and monks hand copying the precious Holy Scriptures in their monasteries and towers. Then progress to the invention of movable type and its impact on both the scribes work, as well as the whole world. Next we get into more mechanized and bigger production with machinery. Then, the next huge development in printing was the incredible type-setting machines of the 19th century. Like the scribes being replaced by the printing press, the compositors (typesetters) were afraid what these new machines would do to their line of work. As it ended up, these marvelous machines made even more compositors necessary. But, instead of standing in front of a typecase laboriously all day, their labor became much easier as their workload expanded.
Then came the invention of lithography which transformed into photo offset lithography or more commonly called, offset printing. This process tremendously increased the production of printed materials. Along with this change in the printing trade came even newer ways of setting type and with complete page production too. Later, when these machines became digital, it became possible to store the information for later. That feature seems strange today with our computers having that ability from day one. But this was very revolutionary at the time.
Finally we look at todays modern technology as well as what is coming in the near future. Even though our offices go more paperless everyday, the printed word will always be with us somehow. There is nothing like holding physical paper in your hands and having a hard copy of an important document.